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1,2? RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Ruth Buyebroeok Augustinian monastery of Groenendael (2 m. s.e. of Brussels) Dec. 2, 1381. Inclined, even as a child, to the religious life, he left home at the age of eleven and went to his uncle, canon of Biography. St. Gudula at Brussels. Here he studied diligently for four years, and then determined to renounce all secular learning for theology. At the age of twenty-four he became a priest and vicar of St. Gudula's. Of his career here little is known, though he seems to have de voted himself more and more to the contemplative life. Mild and charitable, he was yet stern to all forms of vice and error, and associated much with other mystics. In order to give his undivided thoughts to contemplation he retired from the secu lar priesthood at the age of sixty to the newly es tablished monastery of Groenendael, of which he became the first prior. Dividing his time between a reform of his order and meditation, he became a model of monastic sanctity, and received visitors from far and wide, among them Johannes Tauler and Geert Groote (qq.v.). Soon after his death legend gathered around his name; and, at an early date, he was styled doctor ecstaticm. The writings of Ruysbroeck show a marked similarity to those of Meister Eckart (q.v.), by which they may well have been influenced, especially as the works of the older mystic were certainly read in the vicinity of Groenendael, and he Writings. may have heard Eckart at Cologne. Ruysbroeck, the best prose writer of the Netherlands in the Middle Ages, wrote entirely in Dutch, in a style mostly quiet and simple, but capable, under the stress of feeling and imagination, of rising to lofty heights. On the other hand, despite the precision with which he was able to express the profoundest thoughts, he is frequent ly obscure through his allegories, similies, repeti tions, digressions, and subtile (though often illog ical) divisions. His works were soon translated into Latin by his pupils Willem Jordaens and Groote, and translations into the dialects of Gel derland, Colog.=ie, the Upper Rhine, and High German are extant. The first printed treatise of Ruysbroeck was the Brulocht, which appeared under the title De ornate spiritualium nuptiarum (Paris, 1512), while later L. Surius published the Rus brochii opera (Cologne, 1552). From the latter text, which is paraphrastic and often incorrect, Ruysbroeck's writings were translated into German by " G. J. C." (ed. G. Arnold, Offenbach, 1701). The Gelder and Cologne versions of four tractates have been edited by A. Von Arnawaldt under the title Vier Schriften von Johan. Rusbroek in nieder deutscher Sprache (Hanover, 1848). The chief edi tion, however, is the complete one prepared, under the auspices of the Flemish Academy of Biblio philes, by J. B. David, Werken van J. van Ruusbroec (6 vols., Ghent, 1858-69). This contains twelve treatises: (1) Chierheit der gheesteleker Brulocht, sent in 1530 to the friends of God at Strasburg, and consisting of three books treating respectively of the active, the inward, and the contemplative life; (2) Dat Boee van den Gheesteleken Tabernacule is a long allegorical interpretation of the ark of the covenant as the type of the mystical life, based on
the Histaria acholastica of Peter Comestor (q.v.); (3) Dat Bose van den Twaelf Dogheden, more ethical than mystical, is a development of Christian virtue, whose foundation is humility; (4) the Spieghed der emigher Salicheit, written for the Poor Clam in 1359, is an application of the three grades of the mystical life, respectively, to monasticism and to the Eucharist, the work being mostly devoted to the author's views on the sacrament; (5) the Van den Keratenen Ghelove is a short exposition of the Athanasian Creed; (6) Dat Boec van seven trappen in den groet der gheesteliker minnen, on the three grades; (7) Tractaet van seven. sloten was written for the Poor Clam and describes the duties of the nunnery, with special stress on the necessity of inward meditation; (8) Tractaet van den Rike der Ghelieuen is written largely in rime of little poetic value; (9) Dal Boec van den vier Becoringhen com bats the chief errors in the author's time; (10) Dat Boec van den twaelf Beghinen, on contemplation, though often disturbed in context, is of much importance for a knowledge of Ruysbroeck's mysticism; (11) Vingherlinc, of het blickende Steentje, on the " white stone " of Rev. ii. 17 (Christ, who is given to the man of meditation), is also devoted to the three grades, especially the 1 t; (12) Samuel, of dat Boec der hoechster Waerheaisis an apology for the author's mysticism.
Ruysbroeck proceeds, in his mystical system, from God, descends to man, and finally returns to God. God is simple unity, the supernal essence of all, himself immovable, and yet the motive source of things. The Son is wisdom, the uncreated image of the Father; and the Holy Ghost,
Doctrines. proceeding from and returning to both, is love, which unites the Father and the Son. In the persons God is eternal activity, in his essence eternal rest. All creatures are thoughts of God before creation. In man soul and spirit are to be distinguished, the former the principle of the life of the creature, and the latter the principle of divine life. The soul has three qualities: memory, reason, and will. Higher than these are, the essen tial simplicity and formlessness of the spirit which render it like the Father; the intelligence which receives eternal Wisdom (the Son); and the sin, dere8is (or spark of the soul) which strives back to the origin, and unites man with the divine unity by means of love through the Holy Ghost. These three qualities, being inseparable, constitute the simple substance of the spirit. Obscured by sin they must be transported by grace, or wisdom in carnate, above nature to God through the three grades of the active, inward, and contemplative life. The first consists in conquering sin and ap. proaching God by outward acts and good works. The second (vita afectiva), in which asceticism is of minor importance, is characterized by ecatacy and visions, by reentrance into self, by indifference to everything that is not God and the defacing of all mental pictures, striving toward God with mys tical love and feasting upon him, and by the inter pretation of the divine spirit and the spirit of man. In the third stage (vita vitalis), the Christian rises above hope, faith, and all the virtues, even grace, to plunge into the abyss of the divine essence; it